King's professor faces child porn charges

Amanda Christman / Times-Shamrock
King's College professor James A. Stewart is led into his arraignment Tuesday. Stewart is accused of downloading multiple illicit files of child pornography.

A King's College professor charged Tuesday with 120 child pornography-related counts told police he downloaded illicit images of girls as young as 6 while he was drinking because he was "curious" and that he later felt ashamed of his actions, according to a police affidavit.

James A. Stewart, 52, of 39 Walden Drive, Wright Township, is charged with 10 counts of possessing child pornography, 100 counts of disseminating photos or film of child sex acts, and 10 counts of criminal use of a communication facility.

The King's College website lists Stewart as the tutorial coordinator in the Academic Skills Center of the Wilkes-Barre-based institution. A LinkedIn profile indicates Stewart served in the U.S. Air Force from 1979 to June 2001, retiring as a major, before entering academia.

"As a professor that oversees students within a university it is quite a shock; however, once we discovered this, King's College has been very cooperative and I believe has been taking the appropriate steps to protect any students within the university," Luzerne County District Attorney Stefanie Salavantis said. "I'm just glad we discovered this when we did."

Stewart is accused of downloading pictures from the Internet, and there did not appear to be any local victims, Salavantis said.

Court papers allege he downloaded and disseminated pictures and videos of children between 6 and 13 years old involved in sexual acts.

According to the affidavit, undercover police investigating online child porn sharing in May downloaded "hundreds of contraband digital files" from a user on the BitTorrent file sharing network, including pictures of a girl of about 7 in various states of undress until she is completely nude. Police say they traced the images to a computer owned by Stewart.

Pennsylvania State Police Northeast Computer Crime unit, Luzerne County Detectives, Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, Federal Bureau of Investigation and Wright Township police executed a search warrant at Stewart's home Tuesday morning and interviewed Stewart just before 7 a.m., according to a police affidavit.

Stewart told investigators that several weeks ago he had a "couple beers" and was "curious" while his wife was away from home and used his computer to download images and videos of child porn, according to the affidavit. He said he performed Google searches for "family nudity" and "young girls" to find images for his sexual arousal, but felt "guilty" and "ashamed" about it and deleted the files from his computer prior to his wife coming home, the affidavit says.

Investigators said that Stewart, however, did not delete a number of child porn files from a memory card he kept in his wallet.

Luzerne County Detective Chaz Balogh said he did not know if Stewart viewed child porn on the college campus, adding police are still investigating the case.

Balogh said this arrest should send a message to others involved in similar acts.

"Hopefully they understand we are eventually going to catch them," Balogh said. "It's just a matter of time."

Magisterial District Judge James M. Dixon arraigned Stewart on Tuesday morning. Stewart remained quiet during the hearing, politely answering Dixon to say he was born in Paris, France, and was employed by King's College for 11½ years. Stewart also said he is married and has two daughters.

Dixon asked Stewart if he wanted to comment on bail and Stewart declined.

Dixon set his bail at $75,000, and Stewart, who has no prior criminal history, was booked into the Luzerne County Correctional Facility with a preliminary hearing set for 10 a.m. July 3.

Should Stewart post bail, Dixon ordered him not to have any unsupervised contact with minors, not to access to the Internet and to refrain from drug and alcohol use.

Stewart's wife, Lynne, and two adult daughters were in the courtroom Tuesday. His wife declined comment stating the situation was too "new" and the family will do what they can "to pull through this." They have been married for 29 years, according to Stewart's Facebook profile.

John McAndrew, director of public relations for King's College, confirmed Stewart is employed by the college as the tutorial coordinator and an adjunct lecturer in foreign cultures.

"He has been suspended without pay pending further investigation," McAndrew said. "We are cooperating fully with the appropriate law enforcement agencies and anything above and beyond that, we are referring to the Luzerne County District Attorney's Office."

McAndrew would not discuss Stewart's career, saying it was part of his private personnel file. Asked whether there was any indication of victims at the college, McAndrew again deferred comment to prosecutors.

King's College President the Rev. Jack Ryan sent out a campus message on Tuesday afternoon advising students where to direct questions about the college academic skills center.

"Please keep all who have been hurt by these events in your prayer," the Rev. Ryan said.

Some students expressed shock at the allegations.

Justin Eimers, a student in Stewart's African Cultures in Fall 2010, said the professor struck him, "as the type of person who is really passionate about what he does."

"Never in a million years did I think he would get caught up in something like this," Eimers said. "My thoughts on him definitely have changed. I mean, how could they not? There's no way he should be an educator, no matter how effective his teachings are. Protecting adolescents and minors is far more important."

"Wow, that's surprising to me," said a King's student who worked with Stewart as a tutor and did not want to be identified. "He didn't seem like a creepy guy."

The student said Stewart had a lot of memorabilia in his office from the countries where he was stationed with the Air Force. According to an alumni page for his high school in Robinson, Ill., Stewart served in the United Kingdom, Japan, Ethiopia and Kenya, sparking his affinity for African studies, as well as at several bases in the U.S.

According to the LinkedIn profile, Stewart joined King's College as the director of the tutoring center in November 2001 and started lecturing in the foreign languages department in August 2003.

"It's baffling to see this come from my easygoing African studies teacher," said Tim Meyer, who graduated from King's in May with a degree in mass communications.

Meyer, 21, is a resident of Long Island, N.Y. He said he only knew Stewart from one course and didn't even know "he retired as a major of the Air Force."

Stewart obtained a Ph.D. in education from Capella University, a for-profit online school, in 2006, according to the profile. He lists his hometown on Facebook as Robinson, Ill., a rural community 245 miles south of Chicago, 150 miles east of St. Louis.

A King's College class catalog said Stewart received his bachelor's degree from Wayland Baptist University, a private school in Plainview, Texas, with 14 campuses, including one in Kenya. The catalog said Stewart received his master's degree from Troy State University, Troy, Ala.

Michael P. Buffer, staff writer, contributed to this report.

jhalpin@citizensvoice.com, 570-821-2058

achristman@standardspeaker.com 570-455-3636

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